Ocean Eyes
by transdannyphantom
Summary: The group find a planet with a breathable atmosphere that doesn't want to kill them, and, bonus! It has an ocean! What a perfect reason to get everyone swimming. Or, Lance teaches Keith how to swim and they fall in love.


_No fair_ _  
_ _You really know how to make me cry_ _  
_ _When you give me those ocean eyes_ _  
_ _I'm scared_ _  
_ _I've never fallen from quite this high_ _  
_ _Falling into your ocean eyes_ _  
_ _Those ocean eyes_

They had finally found a planet that wasn't: a) hostile, and b) uninhabitable. Which wouldn't be all that unusual aside from the fact that it had a large amount of surface water arranged in oceans much like Earth.

And of course, any thought of a beach had Lance begging for the chance to have a day off to go swimming.

Even Hunk had joined in. The two of them reminiscing about Veradero, and surfing, and Hunk's childhood in Hawaii.

Pidge was all for it. She hadn't been swimming since before she joined the Garrison.

Lance's pouting even had Shiro agreeing it was a good idea. Coran wanted to learn more about Earth water sports, and the five of them had overpowered any resistance that Allura or Keith could have offered. Which is to say that Allura caved after a few moments of deliberation, before growing just as excited as the rest of them.

Leaving Keith to sit alone on the beach as everyone else had fun.

The paladins had managed to pull swim suits out of somewhere; Pidge was wearing a cute ruffled, green bikini, Hunk and Lance were wearing trunks and tank tops- evidently, they were shirts in the impromptu volleyball game being played against Shiro and Coran. Shiro was in black trunks, showing off his well-muscled physique. Coran, however, not nearly as much muscle as Shiro, but still toned, was wearing something that resembled a speedo in hot pink.

It was a little strange, to say the least.

Allura, wearing a one piece, a soft lavender colour that went nicely with her dark skin, was with Pidge in the water, currently having a water fight.

And Keith sat on the sand, glaring at the ocean.

Whoops of joy sounded, and Keith looked back over to the game of volleyball to see Hunk lifting Lance high into the air. Shiro was comforting Coran, but Keith had to force his eyes away.

Sometimes Shiro was just too beautiful for Keith's gay heart to handle.

He looked back to where Allura and Pidge were, trying to distract himself from his racing thoughts. Pidge was standing on Allura's shoulders, and Allura was laughing hard at something that Pidge had said.

"Chicken fight!"

Lance's obnoxious voice drew Keith's attention. The blue paladin was stripping off his shirt, tossing it behind him carelessly as he dove into the water.

Hunk wasn't far behind him.

Shiro and Coran followed, and Keith could see the rest of the paladins explaining just what it was that Lance wanted them to do.

Keith grumpily kicked at the sand in front of him.

Apparently, Shiro and Allura were going to be one team, and Hunk and Pidge were going to be another. Coran would be the judge. Which left Lance on his own.

Keith watched the group with more than a little jealousy as Allura and Shiro stood close together, probably to talk strategy, but it made his blood boil a little.

And when Allura lifted Shiro out of the water on her shoulders, causing him to blush and laugh, Keith swore he could feel his heart cracking in two.

It was a little irrational, he knew this. It wasn't as it Shiro knew about Keith's crush on him. It wasn't as if Shiro would ever love Keith as more than a younger brother and team mate.

Hunk lifted Pidge onto his shoulders with no problem, not even having to duck down for her to climb up. Pidge was so small anyway.

While he hadn't been paying attention, Lance had managed to make his way over to where Keith sat, water dripping from his hair and down his toned body. He dropped into a sitting position beside Keith, wiping his face with his tank top.

"Why're you all the way back here, huh?"

"No reason." Keith glanced back to the group in the water. He could hear the shrieking laughter coming from Pidge, as she almost fell from Hunk's shoulders, and the answering laughter from both Shiro and Allura. Even Coran was getting in on the fun.

"Why aren't you with them?" Keith asked.

Lance shrugged. "Not enough teams." His eyes flickered to Keith. "Besides, I didn't want to leave you out of the fun."

Keith blinked. "Why?"

"We're friends, right?" Lance asked.

Keith nodded.

"Well, friends don't leave friends out of things. Which brings me back to my original question. Why're you all the way back here?"

Keith looked away. He could feel a blush creeping up his neck. Mumbling under his breath, his shoulders lifted to rest around his ears, hopefully hiding the redness from the other boy.

"What was that? I couldn't quite hear ya."

"I can't swim, okay?" Keith was sure his face looked like a tomato. He waited for Lance to burst into the laughter he knew was coming, but when he opened his eyes, Lance was only looking at him with kindness.

"You could've just said, ya know?" Lance gave him a wide smile. "Come on, I'll teach you."

"You'll what?"

"I'll teach you." Lance stood, and offered Keith his hand. "I taught all of my younger siblings. Some of them are even champion surfers now."

"Uh, okay." Keith took the offered hand, and Lance pulled him to his feet.

Lance looked him up and down, brows pulling together in a frown. "Don't you have anything other than super skinny jeans to wear?"

"I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to go shopping before we flew into space in your lion." Keith snapped.

"Hey, woah, no need to get grouchy, mullet man." Lance put his hands up in surrender. "I was just askin'."

Keith mumbled a quiet 'sorry'.

"Do you have anything on under those pants?"

"What? Why?"

"I mean, I know they don't leave much to the imagination, but do you have anything on underneath? You could probably just swim in those. If you're comfortable with that, that is." Lance scratched the back of his head. It had the unfortunate effect of flexing the muscles of his arms and chest, and showing of just how broad Lance's shoulders really were. Keith licked his lips, before realizing what it was that he was doing.

"I, uh, don't." Keith felt like the sun lived under his skin.

"Eh?"

"I don't have anything on under my pants."

And suddenly Lance was blushing just as hard as Keith. "O-oh. Um, castle, didja.. go back?" Lance wasn't the most eloquent usually, but Keith's admission seemed to make him into even more of a mess.

"Uh, yeah. Okay."

"Right! Uh, to the castle then. For shorts. So you can go swimming."

Keith couldn't help but notice that Lance was rather pretty when he blushed like that. It made the blue of his eyes stand out even more than they usually did against the dark tone of his skin. And he had a rather nice body, which Keith could appreciate without being called out for it as he walked behind him. His back was toned, with two dimples on either side of his spine right above the curve of his ass that had Keith's mouth watering to taste the flesh there.

And his ass. Keith swore an ass that nice should be illegal.

And the way Lance's trunk rode low on his hips...

Keith shook his head, forcing himself to focus on the back of Lance's head.

They walked into the castle ship in relative silence, Keith trying so hard not to watch the swing of Lance's hips (and failing, because, damn), Lance staring straight ahead.

When they finally reached Lance's destination, Keith let out a quiet sigh.

Lance tossed him a pair of black trunks he had pulled from somewhere. "These look like they might fit you. So, uh, go get changed."

Keith nodded, and turned toward the hall. "I'll be right back, then, I guess."

He headed towards his room, the only place he really felt comfortable stripping off his clothing, mulling over the thoughts running rampant in his mind. Thoughts about Lance. How pretty he was with his freckles, like stardust on his skin. His eyes, like the ocean, so deep he felt he could drown in them. How he was the perfect height for Keith to be able to rest his head on Lance's shoulder without strain.

He was so screwed.

As quickly as he could manage, Keith changed, grabbing a hair tie off his desk and pulling his hair back into a messy bun at the back of his head. He left his signature fingerless gloves in his room, and had removed his jacket as well.

When he returned, Lance was lounging against the wall, looking like a model, eyes focused on something in the distance, before noticing Keith. His lips split into a rogue-ish grin, and he pushed away from the wall and began moving toward Keith in such fluid movements, Keith could swear his mouth ran dry.

It wasn't fair.

"Looks like I was right."

"Huh?"

"The shorts. They fit you." Lance swept his gaze over Keith, slowly. Keith got the feeling that he was being undressed. "They look good."

"Uh, thanks?"

Lance seemed to suddenly become aware of what he was doing. "Right, uh, swimming. Lesgo!" He grabbed Keith's arm, and pretty much ran back toward the beach the rest of the team were at.

They picked a bit of beach a little ways away from the others, so that it was just the two of them, and they didn't have to worry about distractions.

"Alright, well, the first thing you have to know how to do is float." Lance said firmly.

"Float. Right. And how am I supposed to do that?"

"Well, obviously, ya gotta get in the water." Lance began to wade out into the surf. "Come on, Keith. It's not gonna bite ya."

Keith frowned, but pulled his shirt over his head, letting it drop to the ground, before walking in after Lance. The wet sand was squishy between his toes, a strange sensation, but not unpleasant.

Lance had only gone as deep as his waist, and was standing there, watching Keith with a critical eye. "Ready?"

"I guess."

"Good enough." Lance reached out and took Keith by the shoulders. "Now, do you trust me?"

"Yeah." And he did. Lance may be a clown, but he wouldn't purposefully harm Keith.

"Okay, so, you are going to have to lean back in my arms."

"That's it?" Keith asked, a little skeptical.

"For now."

Keith sighed, before doing as Lance said.

Lance's arms were strong, holding him up as he let himself fall back gently. "Okay, Keith, now, lift your feet from the ground. And relax."

He took a deep breath, lifted his feet, and allowed the tension in his body to flow out of him with his exhale.

"Good, good." Lance said softly. "Now, spread your arms out from your body, and push your hips upward."

"What?"

"Just do it."

Completely sure that Lance was just messing with him now, but unwilling to step away from the warmth of Lance's hands, Keith pushed his hips up like he was told to.

"Alright, I'm going to let go now. You okay with that?" Lance's voice was really soothing when he wasn't being intentionally obnoxious.

Keith hummed, unable to answer.

And suddenly, he was floating with no anchor. It was weird.

"That's it!"

Keith looked at Lance, who was so happy for him that he was grinning like a fool. It caused Keith's stomach to do funny things, and his heart to skip a beat.

This boy was so beautiful.

"Ready to try swimming?"

"Uh," Keith said, lowering his feet to touch the sandy bottom, "Sure."

"Alright, so, basics, right?" Lance said, clapping his hands together. "Your hands should be cupped. This pulls you through the water."

"Okay. Cupped hands. Got it."

"And keep your legs loose when you kick them."

"Loose. Right."

"Did-did you want a demonstration?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." Keith was not going to turn down an opportunity to see those yummy toned muscles at work, no sir.

"Alright. Cool." Lance said. "You just, stand right there, and, uh, watch."

Keith nodded, and then Lance was gliding through the water like he belonged there. Powerful arms pulled him across the surface, and strong legs provided enough thrust to keep him moving. Keith noticed the way his muscles moved, and he was mesmerized, but he also noticed how Lance held himself. The loose legs. The cupped hands. The technique of floating in his core region. The way his hips were angled.

Oh, Keith was so screwed.

In an attempt to hide his reaction to Lance, he threw himself into the water, mimicking the movements that Lance had done, and soon he was slipping through the water like he was born there.

When Lance turned around, his entire face lit up. "That's it! You got it!"

"Bet I can beat you back to shore." Keith grinned.

"Oh, those are fighting words, mullet man. Prepare to eat my bubbles!"

They spent the rest of the day with Lance teaching Keith different ways to swim, and Keith foolishly challenging him to races that of course Lance always won.

As the sun began to set, and the others had gone back to the castle, Keith and Lance were still going.

They lazily floated on their backs beside each other, Lance telling stories about the beach he always went to in Veradero. Keith was just content to listen, hands making small circles to keep him in place.

"This was nice, you know?" Lance said softly. "Getting to hang out with you like this."

"Yeah." Keith said.

They lapsed into silence, floating on top of the water that darkened in colour as the sun went down.

"We should probably head in now." Lance whispered.

"Yeah."

They stood, and walked out of the water, the exhaustion of the day beginning to show on their faces.

At the edge of the beach, before they entered the castle, Keith stopped. Lance turned to face him, a puzzled look crossing his face.

"Do you, do you mind if I try something?" Keith asked.

"Uh, sure?"

"Okay, but you gotta close your eyes."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it, dummy."

"Fine. Quiznak, you are bossy." Lance's blue eyes fluttered shut.

Keith took a deep breath, before stepping in close to Lance, and pulling his head down to meet him. Keith pressed a kiss to Lance's lips, salty from the day spent in the ocean. It was soft, and sweet, and Keith pulled away before Lance had a chance to really savour it.

Lance pulled him back, angling Keith's head gently to deepen the kiss. His hands went to Keith's hips, and Keith whimpered, tangling his hands in Lance's hair.

A perfect end to a perfect day.


End file.
